Relay apparatus



Feb. l0, 1942. A. H. LAMB RELAY APPARATUS Filed Aril 8, 1940 l l I i 46o/7fach en Patented Feb. 10,y 1942 2,212,714 RELAY APPARATUS Anthony H. Lamb, Elizabeth, N. J.,' assignor to Weston Electrical Instrument Corporation, Newark, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application April s, 1940, serian No. 328,582 7 claims. (ci. 17a- 179) This invention relates to relay apparatus and particularly to relay apparatus that combines the apparently contradictory `characteristics ofxtremely high sensitivity and of reliable operaion.

Electrical measuring instruments of high sensitivity have been availablefor many years for the measurement of minute voltages or currents that fluctuate with various quantities or factors' such' as temperature, pressure, humidity or the like. The mechanical forces developed by electrical instruments of extremely high sensitivity are of a negligible magnitude and are not sufiicient to effect a reliable engagement of relay circuit contacts for the direct control of recording or control apparatus. auxiliary equipment have been developed for use between a sensitive'instrument type relay and the ultimate recording or control unit, andit has also been proposed to provide the primary 'instrument relay with magnetic contacts to obtain reliable contact engagements that can carry a substantial current for the direct operation of the recording or control element. The objective o f vthe prior arrangements has been, in general, to obtain a reliable engagement of the Various types of i contacts of a sensitive measuring instrument by I mechanical or magnetic systems, and th'e depressor bar and magnetic contact systems have been used commercially and have proved quite satisfactory in the particular elds and under the operating conditions for which they were designed.

According to the present invention, advantage is taken of an operating condition that has been considered to be the most disturbing characteristie of instrument, relays of high sensitivity, l. e.

-the continuous oscillation or fluttering of a l or aircraft. The prior systems for preventing a fluttering engagement of the instrument relay strument relay from a preselected control position.'

An object of the presentl invention is to provide relay apparatus that has the desirable characteristics oi high sensitivity and high reliability. An object is to provide relay apparatus including a sensitive instrument relay, of an electrical or mechanicalgtype, and a vacuum tube relay controlled by the instrument relay, the load or device that is toV respond to the instrument relay being in the plate circuit of the vacuum tube relay. lay apparatus including an instrument relay having a moving system for displacing a contact arm with respect to a xed contact, a load device to be regulated or energized in accordance with the departure of the moving system of the instrument relay from a preselected position, and an auxiliary relay rcomprising one or more vacuum tubes between the instrument relay and the load device. More specifically, anv object'is vto provide relay apparatus of the type last stated in which the load device is a reversible motor i of the impulse type. A further object is to provide a relay apparatus including a sensitive instrument relay having a. moving system controlling exible contacts that vibrate continuously, a vacuum tube or plur'ality of tubes for which the grid bias is controlled by the engagement of the flexible contacts ofl the instrument relay, and a controlled device in circuit with the tube or tubes, the circuit arrangements being such that the load device is controlled progressively in accordance with the departure of the moving system of the instrument relay from a preselected position, An object is to provide a relay appacontactsA by mechanical or magnetic means have introduced a delay in the relay or control operation that results ln a periodic or step-by-step operation of therecording or control system. This step-by-step operation is substantially eliminated by the present invention and the control action varies progressively with the departure of the moving system of the primary inratus for energlzation from an alternating current source, for example a conventional 110 volts cycles power circuit; the apparatus including an instrument relay having a contact arm movable between a pair of -spaced and vibratory con-- tacts to control the current output of a pair of vacuum tubes, an impulse motor in the output circuits of said tubes and adapted to rotate in different directions in accordance with' 4closure of the relay contact arm upon one or the other of the vibratory contacts, the impulse motor being designed to reach normal rotative speed within one half-cycle of the alternating current, whereby the operating speed of the motor depends upon the integrated time of closure of the I relay contacts.

These and other objects and advantages of the inventionl will be apparent from the following An object is to provide reelectrical relay of the instrument type that may.

be connected to a current or voltage source, not shown, h'aving an output that varies with a quantity such as temperature, pressure, humidity, illumination or the like. 'I'he coil carries a contact arm 2 that is displaced between a pair of relatively stationary contacts 3, 4 in accordance with changes in the output from the current or voltage source. The contact arm and contacts are highly flexible strips or wires that are continuously vibrating over small amplitudes. The

contact arm 2 may be reversely bent or loosely coiled, as shown in Fig. 1, to promote vibration, and the contacts l, l may be relatively long and thin strips of resilient metal. Wh'en space requirements prevent the use of long contact members, the contacts I, 4 may also be bent or coiled to promote vibration.

. It is well known that contacts of this type cannot control heavy current flows when engaged by a sensitive moving system that develops only a minute pressure between the contact arm and the contacts. An auxiliary relay, specifically a grid controlled gas tetrode having the characteristics of tubes known commercially as types 2050 and 2051, is arranged between the instrument relay contacts and the device or load circuit that is to be controlled. The circuits may be designed for theenergization of the load device upon a closure or upon an opening of the instrument relay contacts, and both types of control circuits will be described.

In the Fig. 1 circuit, the control grid Gr of the tube 5 is connected to one terminal of the heater H through serially connected resistors l,

1 that may be of the order of 1 megohm or more.`

l plate P of the-tube 5 through an alarm or vcontrol element I2 that constitutes the load device that is to be energized by the instrument relay. The relay contact arm 2 is connected to the junction of the resistors 8, 1 by a lead I3, and relay contacts 3, I are joined to each other and to the cathode K by a lead I4.

The operation of the Fig. 1 circuit is as follows. Conduction through the tube 5 -is blocked on half-cycles during lwhich the potential of plate P is negative with respect to the cathode K. During the alternate half-cycles when the potentials at the transformer secondary arev las indicated by symbols and the control grid Gi is normally at a potential more negative .than

' that of the cathode K by the voltage drop across.

the heater H, i. e. by the' potential across the secondary B. This normal condition of zero current ilow through the load exists so long as the f instrument contact arm 2 is spaced from the contacts 3 and 4. A'contact closure brings the potential of the control grid G1 substantially to l plate and load circuit with alternating current.

potential which permits lc Condensers I5may be shunted across thel sections 6, l of grid bias resistor when a time delay action is desired. For simplicity, only a single fixed contact 3 is illustrated at the instrument relay, but the relay and tube are otherwise as shown in Fig. 1. v

The circuit of Fig. 3 includes a transformer identical with that of Fig. 1 for energizing the heater and plate circuits but the relay is connected into the grid bias circuit in such manner that current normally flowing in the load circuit is interrupted by a closure of the relay contacts. As shown, the resistor sections 6, 1 are not joined to each other but are connected respectively to the contact arm 2 andthe contact 3 of the relay,.the-contacts being shunted by a condenser I5 when a time delay is desired. The control grid G1 is normally floating and assumes a prrent flow on alternate half-cycles when the plate potentialis positive. Upon engagement oi' the relay contacts,

. lthe grid Gi is biased by the potential' drop -across the heater H and conduction is thus when the plate potential is positive.` r

In practice, stable operation with tube'sffof types 2050 and 2051 has been had with con'trol grid voltage changesof about 3 volts at l microampere, and grid circuit resistors of from 3 to l0 megohms. .Thedifliculties previously experienced with poor contact closures in prior sensitive relays are substantially eliminated l'as the required I blocked grid voltageswing's areobtained with the described vibratory contacts in spit'e of oxide or other films that may tend to form on the contacts. The continuous vibration, although so small that it may be dimcult -to detect with the naked eye, results in an impact and sliding of the contacts that removes or breaks through high resistance films that may form on the contacts. The vibratory contacts have the further advantage of providing a control action that varies in magnitude with the extent of the departure of the relaycontact arm' from its normal or electrical zero position. When the load device i2 is an alarm, for example a bell or signal lamp, a succession of momentary engagements of the relay contacts results in a slight vibration of the bell armature or a flickering of the -signal lamp that indicates the controlling condition is approaching a value at which a definite alarm signal should be -produced. 'I'he fluctuating engagement of the vibratory contacts is particularly advantageous when the load device is an impulse motor since'the effective speed of the motor over a period of non-continuous engagement of. the relay contacts varies with the integrated time of contact engagement.

Asshown in Fig. 4, the load-device I2 is a reversible impulse motor that is controlled by a circuit of the general type shown in Fig. l. A pair of tubes 5, 5 are used in place of the single tube of Fig. l, the circuit elements of tube 5 being identical with those of tube but identii fled by primed reference numerals. Contact arm 2 of the instrument relay is connected to the junction of the sections 8, Il of the transformer,

secondary by a lead i3, and contacts 3, 4 are connected to the junction of resistors 6, 1 and O', 1' by leads I4, Il', respectively. The plate circuits of tubes 5, 5 include the primary windings of transformers I6, i6', respectively, that `feed the field windings of a reversible motor i1 may be of the wound shading pole type that is energized from an alternating current source, or it may be, as shown in Fig. 6, a motor Ilb of the "condenser and starting coilf type.

The general method of operation of the re` versible motor systems of Figs. 4 vto 6 is similar to that of the Fig. lcircuit in that neither field winding receives current when the relay -contacts are open. Both field windings would normally receive current, thus locking the motor against rotation, when the grid circuits of tubes 5, 5' are of the type shown in Fig. 3; In either case, the motor operates when only one field windling receives current from the control tubes, and

the direction of rotation is determined by the particular winding that is individually energized. The current flow in the primary windings of the transformers is a pulsating half-cycle direct alternating current is produced in the following manner.

On half-cycles when the tube is conduration of the open and closed condition of the contacts for different angular displacement of the relay coil i'is shown graphically in Fig. 7 by the relative widths of the hatched areas a and the adjacent spaces. The corresponding 'motor speed for different'displacements of the coil iis indicated by the curve A.

The variable motor speed is particularly useful in recording and control apparatus when the quantity that actuates the instrument relay is subject to rapid fluctuations of different magnitudes. The recording pen or control element is adjusted by the motor at a speed corresponding to the angular displacement of the relay coi: but hunting is eliminated as the motor falls off as the new balance condition is approached.

The several described embodiments of the invention indicate that there is considerable latitude in the circuit design of the relay and control apparatus, and it is to be understood that other modificaions fall within the spirit of my invention as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:-

1. A relay apparatus comprising a sensitive instrument type relay having a pair 'of relatively movable contact members, said members being highly flexible and continuously vibrating, a gas filled electronic tube having a control grid cooperating with a cathode and an anode, a platecathode circuit for said tube including a load device and a source of platel potential, and means including said relay contact members for controlling conduction through said tube.

2. A relay apparatus comprising a sensitive instrument type relay having a Contact arm movable between two relatively fixed contacts, said contact arm and contacts being highly flexible and continuously vibrating, a pair of gas filled Y electronic tubes each having a control grid coductive, a direct current pulsein the transformer current supply to the motor fleld winding. The

same action may be obtained with auto-transformer or choke coil couplings between the plate circuits and the motor windings.

The speed of the motor I1 varies with the angular displacement of the moving system of the relay when the motor is of the impulse type and designed to reach full speed in about one-half cycle of the alternating current source feeding the transformer'primary 9. The continuous vibrations of the exible contact members result in a series of momentary contact closures as the angular displacement of the moving system of the relay approaches the value at which rigid contact members would engage, and the length of each period of contact engagement increases with the displacement of the moving system until a continuous or almost continuous engagement ofthe contact members is obtained. The relative The transformer magnetic field coloperating with a cathode and an anode, a plate` cathode circuit for each tube including a load device and a source of plate potential, and gridcathode circuits for said tubes, each grid-cathode circuit including said contact arm and one of said contacts for controlling conduction th rough the associated tube.

3. A relay apparatus comprising an instrument type relay having a moving system kfor displacing a contact arm between a pair of relatively 'stationary and continuously vibrating flexible contacts, a pair of vacuum tubes of the type including a grid cooperating with a cathode and an anode, anode-cathode circuits for the respective tubes and each including the primary winding of a ltransformer and an alternating current source, a motor having a pair of field windings for determining the direction of rotation of the motor, said field windings being connected to the secondary windings of the respective transformers, and grid-cathode circuits for said tubes, each grid-cathode circuit includlng a source of bias potential and means controlled by said contact arm and one of said con- ,tacts for varyingv the effective grid bias to control' conduction through said tube.

4.A relay apparatus 4as claimed in claim 3, wherein said contact arm and contacts are highly flexible and continuously vibrating,

whereby the integrated time of closure of said* contact arm upon either contact varies with the with the displacement of the movingsystemA of the rely- 5. In a relay system. an alternating current motor ot the impulse type adapted tc reach full speed in approximately one-halfv cycle, an instrument type relay having a moving system for displacing a highly iiexible and continuously vibrating contact member with respect to a relatively xed and continuously vibrating exible lcontact member, and means including va grid controlledv gas .tube for energizing said motor during periods of engagementv of said contact members', whereby the speed of said motor varies with the displacement of the moving system of the relay. t

6. In a relay system, a reversible alternating current motor ofI the impulse type adapted to rea'ch full speed in approximately one-half cycle, an instrument type relay including `a movable system for displacing a contact arm between a pair of contacts, and means controlled by the engagement of said contact arm with the recuits ior supplying impulses ltovsaid'inotor toy effect operation thereof vin opposite directions,

and input circuits including the contact arm and contacts of said relay for controlling conduction f y tubes.

through the respective ANTHONY H.v LAMB. 

